Pembroke Town, School District Meetings are March 7, 14

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:39:00 GMT

BY GINGER KOZLOWSKI

Pembroke voters need to set aside two Saturday mornings to take care of town and school warrants.

School
The School District Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March 7, at 10 a.m., at Pembroke Academy.

There are five money warrant articles to be discussed and voted upon.

Article 3 asks for $50,000 to be taken from surplus and put in the special education trust fund. Article 4 asks for $50,000 to be taken from surplus and put in the school building capital reserve fund.

Article 5 asks for $20,000 to be taken from surplus and put in the instructional materials expendable trust fund.

Article 6 asks for $51,500 to be taken from the school building capital reserve fund to replace carpet and toilet partitions in the Hill and Village schools; replace carpet, refinish the gym floor and replace exterior windowsills at Three Rivers School; and to replace the library carpet and toilet partitions at Pembroke Academy.

Article 7 asks for $23,588,989 to be raised through taxation for the school district’s operating budget. This is the amount recommended by the Budget Committee. The School Board recommended a budget of $2,772,629, which is a difference of $183,640.

Town
Pembroke Town Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March 14, at 10 a.m., at Pembroke Academy. There are 13 warrant articles to be discussed and voted upon.

Article 3, by petition, asks for $200 a year for repair and replacement of American flags hung on Route 3 by the Pembroke Woman’s Club Proudly Our Color Fly project.

Article 4 asks for $20,000 from the Soucook River Tax Increment District fund to pay costs and administrative expenses incurred.

Article 5 asks for five capital reserve funds to be discontinued.

Article 6 asks that selectmen be appointed as agents to expend from the Revaluation Update Capital Reserve Fund.

Article 7 asks for $578,500 to be raised by taxation for eight capital reserve funds.

Article 8, which takes up 16 pages on the warrant, sets up definitions and requirements if the voters decide to go to singlestream forced recycling. This is expected to be the longest topic of discussion at the meeting.

Article 9 asks for $260,000 to buy an automated collection vehicle, which would come from a capital reserve fund.

Article 10 asks for $252,000 to buy collection carts to be used with the automated collection vehicle. The town would recoup this money as the carts would be sold for use by the public.

Article 11 asks for $10,000 to be taken from the Town Equipment Capital Reserve Fund to refurbish the 1998 Peterbilt packer (garbage truck), contingent upon Article 7 passing.

Article 12 asks for $289,700 to rehabilitate up to 100 manholes and replace up to 180 manhole covers to upgrade the wastewater infrastructure.

Grants will reimburse the town 100 percent of the costs, with no impact on taxes.

Article 13 asks for $150,000 for renovations to North Pembroke Road following the flood of 2007. Grants will reimburse the town 100 percent, with no impact on taxes.

Article 14 asks for $25,855 to be taken from the Police Cruiser Capital Reserve Fund to purchase and equip one police vehicle.

Article 15 asks for $7,299,184 to raised by taxation for the municipal operating budget.

Voting
On Tuesday, March 10, Pembroke residents may vote on zoning warrants and candidates for town and school offices. The polls will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Pembroke Village School, 30 High St.

Pembroke voters increase school budget instead of cutting

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:22:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Pembroke will not suffer any staff cuts or eliminate any sports programs after voters at the School District Meeting decided in a 95-71 vote to pass the School Board’s proposed operating budget.

“The meeting went exactly the way it should have gone,” said School Board Chairman Clint Hanson, adding there is no animosity with the Budget Committee. All warrant articles, including the hotly debated operating budget, were adopted after some changes.

Special education costs, which put the district about half a million in debt this school year and comprise almost two-thirds of the school budget increase, dominated the discussion at the meeting on Saturday, March 8.

The final approved 2008-09 operating budget for the school district is $22,447,206. The budget will result in a projected local school tax rate of $14.68 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Based on revenue projections, if the town’s proposed budget and warrant articles go through unscathed, the projected tax rate is $26.02 per $1,000 of assessed value, including state school and county taxes, $2.36 more than the current rate.For a home assessed at $250,000, this would be a $590 increase on the tax bill for a total bill of $6,505.

The Budget Committee recommended a budget $230,000 less than that, having asked both the School Board and Board of Selectmen to cut their respective budgets to reduce the combined 10 percent increase in taxes.

With the passing of both budgets and all articles, the Budget Committee’s number would be a slightly less drastic 6.7 percent increase.

For Pembroke schools, that meant cutting a staffed teaching position from each of the schools as well as the lacrosse and golf programs at Pembroke Academy, cuts many voters felt were unacceptable.

The final decision left members of the Board of Selectmen with some anxiety about the Town Meeting on Saturday, March 15.

“The town as well as the school had a very lean budget,” said the selectmen’s representative to the Budget Committee, Larry Preston. “I just hope that the voters don’t come in next week at the Town Meeting looking for extra cuts.”

The only thing left to cut on the town side is the roads budget, said Selectman Fred Kline. Voters meet at 10 a.m. at Pembroke Academy on March 15.

Pembroke voters selected their town and school district officials at the polls on Tuesday March 11. All races were uncontested, with Tina Courtemanche being written in for selectman and all open positions filled.

Pembroke News : budget

Pembroke Town, School District Meetings are March 7, 14

Pembroke voters increase school budget instead of cutting